Chapter 1 Flashcards
Definitions of health
- Commonly seen as absence of objective signs and subjective symptoms that body is not functioning properly -> issue: someone can be unhealthy without signs or symptoms
- Better definition: positive state of physical, mental, and social well-being (not simply the absence of injury) or disease that varies over time and along a continuum
Illness/wellness continuum
- Continuum demonstrating that health and sickness aren’t separate -> should be seen on a continuum instead of categorically, and can vary over time
- Death -> major disability from illness -> symptoms and minor disability -> worse-than-average signs -> neutral -> average signs -> healthful signs and lifestyle -> very healthful signs and lifestyle -> optimal wellness
illness in the past
- In past, dietary (ie. Malnutrition) and infectious (ie. By bacteria or virus) diseases were common
- Ex. Tuberculosis leading cause of death in Canada at confederation
illness today
- Today, people in developed nations live longer, and suffer different illnesses
- Infectious diseases are still one main cause of death today in developing countries, but have declined significantly because people take preventative measures (ie. Better nutrition, hygiene, etc.)
- In 20th century, chronic diseases became common (ie. Heart disease, cancer), and is main cause of health problems/death in developed countries like Canada -> due in part because people are living longer, are more stressed, and are exposed to harmful chemicals
- Today, main cause of death in childhood/adolescence is accidental injury
historical views of mind and body: early cultures
believed illnesses were caused by mythical forces like evil spirits (cure: trephination)
historical views of mind and body: ancient greece/rome
- Hippocrates’ (Father of Medicine) humoral theory: 4 balanced fluids = health (solution: diet and avoid excesses)
- Plato: mind and body are separate entities (mind not related to health) -> today, seen as separate concepts (body is physical being, mind is abstract processes like feelings)
- Galen: illnesses can be localized, different diseases have different effects
historical views of mind and body: middle ages
influence of religion - humans and animals were not allowed to be dissected because they have souls; sickness seen as God’s punishment for bad things; priests involved in medicine
historical views of mind and body: Renaissance and after
- Descartes: body as a machine -> mechanics of action and sensation, mind and body are separate but can communicate through pineal gland, animals have no soul and soul leaves human bodies at death -> dissection is okay
- 18-19th centuries: rejected humoral theory, surgery flourished, biomedical model
problems in the healthcare system
Rising costs, Canada’s publicly-funded healthcare adds a burden to taxpayers, biomedical model limited in ability to treat chronic illnesses like cancer (survival rates due to early detection, not improved treatments)
psych’s role in healthcare: who is “the person” in health and illness?
- Each unique individual, including their lifestyle (which can substantially influence risk of illness and early death), risk factors (both biological and behavioural), and personality (ie. Conscientious people live longer)
- Not factored into biomedical model
how did the role of psychology emerge in healthcare?
- From Freud, who while working as a physician saw that some patients had physical symptoms with no detectible organic disorder -> “conversion hysteria”
- Psychosomatic medicine: mind and body are involved in symptoms; very medical
- 2 fields emerged to study role of psychology on illness:
- Behavioural Medicine: interdisciplinary, originated from behaviourism (behaviour results from classical conditioning or operant conditioning – punishment vs. reward) -> link between mind and body is direct
- Health psychology
4 goals of health psychology
- promote and maintain health
- prevent and treat illness
- identify the causes and diagnostic correlates of health, illness, and related dysfunction
- analyze and improve healthcare systems and health policy
what is health psychology
- Based on psychology, and draws heavily on other psychology subfields (clinical, social, developmental, etc.) to identify and alter lifestyle processes that lead to illness, and improve functioning and recovery for people who are sick
- Health psychologists work in hospitals, clinics, or as university academics
- Direct help: therapy to help manage problems from illness; biofeedback to control pain, etc.
- Indirect help: research about lifestyle and personality in illness/injury -> education
biopsychosocial perspective
- Adds to the biomedical model -> includes the person (adds psychological factors – ie. cognition, emotion, motivation; and social factors – ie. Society, community, family; biological factors – ie. genes, physiology)
- All 3 factors affect and are affected by the person’s health
biomedical model
- all diseases or physical disorders can be explained by disturbances in physiological processes resulting from injury, biochemical imbalances, infections, etc.
- assumes disease affects body and is separate from the mind